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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of teens & young adult short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

5330+ Teens & young adult Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for the best short stories for teens? Our collection of funny, suspenseful, and relatable young adult short stories will meet your needs.

Teens & young adult Short Stories – Page 15 of 356

Words Cut More than Actions

Submitted to Contest #284

It was a chilly September day, and my hands felt numb as if frostbite had set in from the icy mist of water spraying back after a long day of pressure washing. I had backed up my two-ton truck onto the driveway and needed a moment--wiping granules of embedded dirt from my eyes and hair. I felt beaten by yet another day of swinging side-to-side and the jerking motion of a pressure washing wand over a two-story home and twenty-one hundred square feet of moss-covered pavement. The pinch in my mid-back and burn in my knees was proof that at my a...

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The Humiliation at Thanksgiving

Submitted to Contest #284

Content warning: Derogatory slurs, offensive languageAnthony Losani hated Thanksgiving because every year, his Uncle Dom and his family would come to visit. Dominic Losani was his father’s brother, and was the epitome of everything that Anthony hated. He worked construction, though over the years he had risen in the ranks to the point where he barely had to do any heavy lifting; the massive gut that hung outside of his jeans was a testament to this, as well as his appetite. He was greasy - it seemed to roll down his body from his nearl...

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The Hour of Christmas

Submitted to Contest #284

It was her favorite time of year. Snow fell steady beyond her window, puffy, heavy flakes that glittered in the Christmas lights. The sidewalks would be dusted with a healthy covering by this hour, though the carolers singing merely a few doors down didn’t seem to mind. The world outside her home was barely above a whisper of movement; there was no honking of horns or traffic of any kind, no angry people shouting in the streets, and hardly any clanging or banging from her neighbors. It was peaceful. Or at least it had been for a moment. He...

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someone who turn over a new leaf

Submitted to Contest #284

it was in secondary school when all this occurred : being a top achiever . he has always gotten good grades since schooling but everything change when he went up to secondary schools : he disrupted classes , made teachers helpless and never gotten good grades , it all seem like a broken teen . it was not all that devastating , he only realized after some time it was burn out in a student's life. he actually got burned while in higher streams during primary school , there was no reward being in a higher stream even though getting good grades ...

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Corpse Daughter

Submitted to Contest #284

Have you ever heard of the Corpse Daughter? She started off the same as you and I, mouths tasting like lingering laughter and hearts dancing through rhythms. She never walked but pranced, from person to person just to bubble up anyone’s conversation; she was someone who bubbled up and poured out rivers of enthusiasm and curiosity. Some would lift cheeks whilst others carried deep breaths and distanced themselves from the loud rush. Alive Daughter was often the colour red, her cheeks puffed up and held a hue of burning excitement whenever sh...

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The Girl and the Desert

Submitted to Contest #284

It was the summer before college, when the world seemed to lay out in front of her, just waiting to be walked upon. Any path, in any direction, could be hers. Ava was young and grown up all at the same time and she was ready to have adventures. It was the year 2000 and the world hadn’t ended, as predicted. Anything was possible. She was going to visit her friend Ryan. Ryan was a girl who never missed an opportunity to tell people her name meant “descendant of the king”. She thought she was so cool for having a boy’s name. Ava thought it was ...

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The Gift of a Blank Book

Submitted to Contest #284

3/25 Dear diary, that’s what you’re supposed to say right? I’ve never done this before. My therapist Danny gave me this notebook and told me I should start keeping a diary, I said that a diary is something a 13-year-old girl uses to write about her crush, and he said I can call it a journal if that makes me feel better. So here I am… I don’t have much to say at the moment, life’s good, I honestly don’t even know why I’m in therapy. Bye, I guess… I don’t know how to end one of these. 3/26 Hi, me again. Danny also suggested I wr...

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The Naivete of a Teenage Girl

Submitted to Contest #284

The tree looks the same as it does every year; the same white, not colored, never colored, lights and the ever-constant traditional sentimental ornaments from generations past and childhood memories. That is, the sentimental ornaments and the bright yellow SpongeBob smack dab in the middle of the tree. My mom let my little brother pick it out one year when he was seven and could not be persuaded to choose a different ornament. At the time, I had thought it to be gaudy and very "off" the theme of Christmas. Now when I look at it, I have this ...

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We Make Magic

Submitted to Contest #284

The Bringer of Late Frosts and Freezes lounged on his favorite cloud, watching mortals scurry about below like ants preparing for winter. Zerio—for that was his proper name, though few bothered to use it—twirled an icicle between his fingers, its crystalline surface catching the afternoon sun. His latest masterpiece of meteorological mayhem had turned three counties' worth of spring flowers into frost-bitten disappointments. "I leave you alone up here and now you're brooding again," a firm, warm voice called from behind. "I should've known b...

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The Path to Truth

Submitted to Contest #284

*This is the first story I have finished in quite a while, so please feel free to leave constructive feedback or any tips and advice after reading! * “I cannot believe you got us lost in the woods” Olivia said looking on the paper map sprawled out on the ground in front of her”“I just wanted to clear my head. It is not my fault that they decided to build this retreat in the middle of the impossible to solve woods” Veronica huffed quickly, turning to see if there was suddenly a magical yellow brick road to follow back to their cabin. A few we...

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Scoops of life

Submitted to Contest #283

After an eight-hour-long journey, I finally arrived back in my hometown after spending my first semester in college. It had snowed here the night before, sparking the Christmas season in the town. The train station was dazzling with bright lights, and Christmas decorations dangled around the fenestrations of the building. People were coming back from all over to celebrate the holidays with their families, but for me, I knew this was going to be the worst Christmas ever.  I had been thinking of several last-minute excuses in my dorm room...

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The Christmas After

Submitted to Contest #283

I gasp as I'm startled awake. There is an old lady sitting across from me looking at me as if I'm crazy, which I must admit I seem like I am. A sixteen-year old all alone on a train, the day before Christmas. My dark blond hair is a shaggy mess that almost touches my shoulders, my face is covered with what is either dirt or food, and I’m clutching my bag as if it had my grandfather's ashes in it or something. She probably thinks I’m a homeless boy planning to rob her. I sigh and try to fix up my hair and wipe my face with the back of my lint...

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The Ghosts Of Memories’ Past

Submitted to Contest #284

“Why does everything feel so different?” I said to myself, with confusion and heartache. “I got my favorite teacher yet again, for a second year in a row, but it doesn’t feel anything like last year.” I thought to myself. Why is it so different? Why doesn’t it feel the same? Why does everything feel so strange and foggy? “Take me back. Take me back to last year, someone take me back please.” I continued crying to myself, almost unable to breathe from the anxiety I was feeling. As I walk past my old classroom from last year, with my favorite ...

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For once in my life, let me get what I want.

Submitted to Contest #283

I was expecting this Christmas to feel joyous, at least compared to the ones that came before. Last year, Jacob’s snowboarding accident at the lodge was a major stinker. Then the year before, when Mom got really sick while Dad totaled the car against a telephone pole. Bad years, both of them. But bad things, they’ve always followed us, haven’t they? Like the night you finally got that invitation to basketball camp, only to find the car’s tires slashed the same evening. Or when we spent five whole days plotting out your homecoming proposal to...

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Getting to Know Homeless Joe

Submitted to Contest #283

The clouds in the sky looked like fluffy pillows. The air smelled of Lavendar and Bryson was with the girl of his dreams, Tara. This is too good to be true, he thought."Bryson! Bryson! Wake up!" Huh??? He rolled over and opened his eyes to find his mother red faced standing over him. "What? " He asked wearily. "Surely you picked up the party tray from the market, right?" He jolted straight up on the bed. It was 1:30 in the afternoon. he was supposed to pick it up at noon. "Oh, gosh Mom! I'm sorry! I was studying earlier and got sleepy!" Actu...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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